No practice? No problem for Travelers leader Moore

Chris Elsberry

Published 7:06 pm, Saturday, June 21, 2014

CROMWELL, CT - JUNE 21: Ryan Moore of the United States waves to the crowd after making his putt on the 17th hole during the third round of the Travelers Championship golf tournament at the TPC River Highlands on June 21, 2014 in Cromwell, Connecticut.
Photo: Jim Rogash, Getty Images

CROMWELL, CT - JUNE 21: Ryan Moore of the United States waves to...

CROMWELL, CT - JUNE 21: Ryan Moore of the United States watches his tee shot on the 11th hole during the third round of the Travelers Championship golf tournament at the TPC River Highlands on June 21, 2014 in Cromwell, Connecticut.
Photo: Jim Rogash, Getty Images

For Ryan Moore, the recent frustration level with his overall game pretty much came to a head after his pro-am round Wednesday morning. The swing wasn't quite right, the putter wasn't quite true and rather than head back out to the practice range for a couple of hours to try to grind out some kind of answer, he went back to his hotel and took his young son, Tucker, to the museum.

"I decided, you know what? I'm just going to go hang out with my boy and go play at the hotel and just relax and just get my mind off it so I can show up the next day and just go play golf," Moore said. "And that's kind of the way I've been approaching it. I haven't practiced after a round this whole week, just trying to simply keep my focus on, `OK, let's just show up every morning and go play golf.'"

Seven players are standing at 9-under par, including Chad Campbell, while another six are hanging around at 8-under, led by Jeff Maggert. In all, 18 players are within five shots of the lead, setting up what could be a WWE Steel Cage-match finish.

"I think tomorrow (today) you'll have to peek at the scoreboard because this is a course when (players) can shoot a low score," said Baddeley, whose three rounds of 67-66-65 have him eyeing just his second top-10 finish this season. "Guys can come from behind and shoot a nice score."

For Baddeley, who has gotten better over each of his three rounds here at the TPC River Highlands, the past three years have been a struggle. Since his 2011 win at the Northern Trust Open, the Australian has worked endlessly to try to figure out what has gone wrong with his swing.

"I was hitting it all over the place and not knowing why," he said. "That was the hardest thing."

The swing struggles got so bad that Baddeley missed 14 of 24 cuts last season, and he's missed 26 over the last three years. But last October, he started working with Chris Como and Grant White and, slowly but surely, has started to see some results.

"I really feel like I'm close to playing well now," said Baddeley, who finished fifth at the CIMB Classic in October of last year in Malaysia and most recently came in T23 at the U.S. Open. "It's been a steady progress of just improving a little bit day by day, and I'm getting really close to playing good golf."

Moore, by his own admission, hasn't been playing that great of late, but he'll take it.

"Today was a great example of it doesn't have to be pretty to shoot a good golf score," Moore said. "I honestly did not feel great all day hitting the ball, but drove it well enough to kind of keep myself out of trouble."

He made a 30-footer or so for eagle at No. 6 -- after hammering a hybrid off the cart path from about 230 yards -- and followed that up with a chip-in for bird at 12. He got another birdie at 17. It was a steady, solid round, one that Moore would take again in a heartbeat today.

"I'm very encouraged about (today)," he said. "Just based on how good I hit my last four shots of the day, probably my best ones of the day. Who cares what you're feeling like? Let's just try and keep it out of trouble, and you know, shoot a golf score."

That will also be the mindset of at least a dozen other golfers, including Garcia, who has gone 65-69-65 in his three rounds.

"If I shoot 62, I'll probably win, but I don't know," he said. "It's difficult to say. The only thing I can do is go out there and try to play the best I can and see where that puts me."

While Garcia will likely have the largest following, a lot of eyes will be on Moore, who won the CIMB Classic in a playoff last year and finished T6 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

"I've had a lot of success, and I've been there a lot of years," Moore said. "I've been in the mix before going into Sunday. This is a tournament I really want to win. I know it's a tournament I can win. And it's just a matter of going out and putting it all together."